The 10th-year NBA veteran started the season as Nicolas Batum’s backup at small forward, progressed through a three-week stretch when he rarely played, and then had a stretch where he was starting at power forward when LaMarcus Aldridge was injured. And now he’s settling into what will likely his role down the stretch and into the postseason – as Aldridge’s backup, playing a “stretch four” role.

Throughout it all, he has leaned heavily on his preparation. But it goes beyond just staying ready mentally and physically to play whenever he’s needed. He also has to go through a regular ritual that could be called, well, meticulous.

“I’m very superstitious,” Wright said after the Blazers’ 105-98 win over Memphis. “I used to be a baseball player, and you know how those guys are? I’m superstitious with a lot of things I do, and I want to do things the same each and every time, every day.”

Take his pregame shooting. First he has to make seven mid-range shots, then four pull-ups. Then the three-pointers start. He has to make 10 in a corner, seven on a wing, three at the top, seven on the other wing, and another 10 at the other corner.

But he’s not done: “I gotta do three layups, and I gotta make a shot in the corner.”

And then? “I gotta sign autographs, and then I gotta go back, and I gotta put my jersey on first.”

Before any of that starts, Wright has already been through his game-day food ritual. He religiously goes to a Pot Belly and orders two grilled chicken sandwiches. The staff has apparently seen it many, many times.

“The people know what I want when I get in there,” he said. “They go, ‘Oh, you want two, right?’”

His preferred beverage? Water. And then there’s this: “I eat it when I’m driving. I’ve got to. I’m a weirdo, man, when it comes to that kind of stuff.”

There’s one more thing: texts. Wright says he does not feel comfortable unless he gets a text from three people – his mother, brother and girlfriend – before each game.

“If they don’t text me before the game, it’s not going to be good,” he said.

On March 18, during the Blazers’ home win over Milwaukee, Wright shot 0 for 7 from three-point range. Guess what happened that day?

“My brother, he forgot to text me,” Wright said. “He didn’t think we had a game that day.”

So it was his brother’s fault?

“Of course that’s on him,” Wright said.

When it was suggested that there seemed a touch of OCD in all this, Wright didn’t disagree at all.

“It used to be 10 times worse,” he said. “I’m glad I’m over that part.”